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Nutrition Question - Timing of Cal in vs Cal out

708 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by tenbsmith, Jul 10, 2009

gasiorv

Discussion Starter · Jun 30, 2009

I have got some good nutition info from this forum and I thought I would see if anyone could help me with this question. Sorry about the long drawn out questions.

I have been trying to maintain a 3500 calorie weekly deficit by maintaining a 500 cal/day deficity. The question that I have now, is does is matter when I take in or burn these calories or is the deficit enough to overcome this timing issue.
My typical day.
5am - Lift or cardio (I cannot eat before lifting or cardio due to time contraints)
Post workout - Protein shake (132 cal)
7:30am - Bkfst (approx 300 cal)
10:30 am - snack, protein and fruit (approx 300 cal)
12:30 - lunch, (approx 400 cal)
3:00 - snack (approx 300 cal)
5:30pm - dinner (approx 500 cal)
8:30 pm - snack (approx 200 cal)
I try to get at least 30% if not more of protein per day. This works pretty good for me on non-ride days. However, I am trying to cut down my dinner intake but it is hard with the family.

If I ride after work I will add another pre-ride snack of about 250-300 cal and then a post ride shake of 132 cal. The ride moves my dinner to about 8:00pm with no snack after dinner. However, I usually ride for about 2 hrs which burns approx 2000 calories which will put me at a much larger calorie deficit then I wanted, however, I really don't want to eat another 700 or so calories just before going to bed.

I really don't want to try to eat the extra calories during the day since sometimes things come up last minute and I can't go riding therefore I would of consumed way too much and I also don't want to try and force everything down right before riding since it doesn't sit well.

In your opinion is it best to have a larger calorie deficit for the day or eat to make up for the consumption post ride and before bed?

Also, on weekends I ride first thing in the morning, I usually have approx a 300 cal meal, then wait an hour then ride for about 2 hours and then have a post ride shake and then go on with the day. Should I try to account for these additional burnt calories during the day by eating more, or is it too late (I was told by someone to eat for what you are going to do, not what you already did).

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jerjon7

· #2 · Jul 1, 2009

for the most part, unless extreme circumstances(eating a large pizza before bed) timing is not that big a deal. eating every 2 to 3 hours is ideal.

if you stall in your weight loss then first try adding a few more calories to see if that helps, the reason i say this is because if your calorie expenditure is way off from your intake your body will put it self in starvation mode keeping your fat and burning your muscle which is not what we want

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BIG666

· #3 · Jul 1, 2009

Same boat !!!

gasiorv said:
I have got some good nutition info from this forum and I thought I would see if anyone could help me with this question. Sorry about the long drawn out questions.

I have been trying to maintain a 3500 calorie weekly deficit by maintaining a 500 cal/day deficity. The question that I have now, is does is matter when I take in or burn these calories or is the deficit enough to overcome this timing issue.
My typical day.
5am - Lift or cardio (I cannot eat before lifting or cardio due to time contraints)
Post workout - Protein shake (132 cal)
7:30am - Bkfst (approx 300 cal)
10:30 am - snack, protein and fruit (approx 300 cal)
12:30 - lunch, (approx 400 cal)
3:00 - snack (approx 300 cal)
5:30pm - dinner (approx 500 cal)
8:30 pm - snack (approx 200 cal)
I try to get at least 30% if not more of protein per day. This works pretty good for me on non-ride days. However, I am trying to cut down my dinner intake but it is hard with the family.

If I ride after work I will add another pre-ride snack of about 250-300 cal and then a post ride shake of 132 cal. The ride moves my dinner to about 8:00pm with no snack after dinner. However, I usually ride for about 2 hrs which burns approx 2000 calories which will put me at a much larger calorie deficit then I wanted, however, I really don't want to eat another 700 or so calories just before going to bed.

I really don't want to try to eat the extra calories during the day since sometimes things come up last minute and I can't go riding therefore I would of consumed way too much and I also don't want to try and force everything down right before riding since it doesn't sit well.

In your opinion is it best to have a larger calorie deficit for the day or eat to make up for the consumption post ride and before bed?

Also, on weekends I ride first thing in the morning, I usually have approx a 300 cal meal, then wait an hour then ride for about 2 hours and then have a post ride shake and then go on with the day. Should I try to account for these additional burnt calories during the day by eating more, or is it too late (I was told by someone to eat for what you are going to do, not what you already did).

Hahha.....I could have posted most of this! Really interested in the replies. Its very difficult to train and lose weight .....well I think it is

I use fitday.com to monitor in/out calories but i am never quite sure .......after burning 2000cals on a long ride if i should try to increase my intake to get to my 500-800 defecit for the day or leave a 1500 cal negative deficit. My weight is going down by about 0.5lbs - 1lb per week....which is what i want. (1- 2lbs would be welcome)

Should we have a bigger deficit for the long ride days or will we burn that hard earned muscle:nono: .....i am not sure!!!!
My fitness level and Vo2 max are improving far quicker than my weight

....I usually train 6 days per week (including 2 general weights) and use a heart monitor or power if using the turbo. I like to put in 1 or sometimes 2, 25- 40 mile xc rides which burn off 1000 - 2000 cals

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split.therapy

· #4 · Jul 2, 2009 (Edited)

FWIW- I have been following the Paleo diet for about 9 weeks. I've lost about 16lbs. I have NO SHORTAGE OF ENERGY! My recovery rate is AMAZING!
Basically here is my day.
water, coffee, 1 whole egg fried in tallow, banana

Mon,Wed,Fri- workout / Tue,Thur,Sat,Sun- ride

b-fast- 5 egg whites, 1 whole egg, avocado, fruit ( low glycemic load)

lunch-1.25-1.5 lbs. of meat or fish, veggies, a few walnuts

dinner-same as above (no walnuts)

I make sure I get plenty of fat!, Walnuts, Canola oil, coconut oil, naturally occurring fat in meat and fish.

Sometimes I will ride twice in a day or ride, walk or hike in the afternoon on a weight training day

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Yeti2424

· #5 · Jul 8, 2009

Generally speaking larger meals should be consumed earlier in the day giving your body more time to burn the calories. This is especially true with carbohydrates as the human body generally processes them better in the morning because glucose tolerance is at its peak. However, the bigger issue is eating your meals/snacks at the same time every day. This increases the "thermic effect of food" and boosts your body's metabolism.

Use recovery meals/drinks high in protein and carbohydrates post workout. If there is no workout then there is no recovery meal/drink. But be sure to replace it with a low calorie snack (apple, orange, hard boiled egg white) to keep the timing of that meal.

However remember that each person and each body is different. Play with timing over the course of a few weeks while tracking progress and figure out what works best for you.

The easiest way to track progress is by recording weight and bodyfat percentage. A pair of bodyfat calipers are pretty inexpensive and more accurate but you can also track using measurements and a formula like those found here: http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

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gasiorv

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 10, 2009

Thanks for the info. I am still struggling with the eating in the evenings and thus I think I am taking in too many calories later in the day. I will try to work on that. I am keeping a schedule of when I eat and been sticking to that through the work week pretty well, it's just that I eat too much for dinner.

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tenbsmith

· #7 · Jul 10, 2009

Eating too much at dinner, and at after dinner snack is my biggest problem too.

Hmmm.. that bit about eating at the same time every day increasing the impact of food on metabolism is very interesting. Recently I've given up after dinner snack, but maybe a better solution is low calorie after dinner snack...

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